


setting fire to our insides for fun

by SapphireQueen



Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Genre: F/F, after misato slaps ritsuko in front of everyone at NERV HQ, and maya looks PISSED, taking place in episode 20
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:27:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28559793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphireQueen/pseuds/SapphireQueen
Summary: if maya ibuki despises one thing, it is personal feelings getting in the way of a professional work environment.-katsuragi san should not slap her co-workers during work hours-- whatever they do on their off hours is their business.
Relationships: Akagi Ritsuko/Ibuki Maya
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	setting fire to our insides for fun

* * *

The water feels relieved on her skin as she rinses near the sink, splashing it lightly as the small droplets fall down her now cooled skin. The light was low in the employee bathroom, and Maya could hear her colleagues exciting the building though the exit. Their voices all became one at some point, a mixture of whispers and harsh gossip one amongst the other— it surprises Maya since she once thought that considering they were all trying to stop the apocalypse that they would be above petty gossip and petty chattering and yet, she cannot fault them for it— it was easy entertainment. 

She just wasn’t particularly thrilled at the subject of the gossip this night.

“I heard Major Katsuragi delivered a major blow today to the head of NERV’s technical repairs and scientific division. What was her name?”

“Doctor Akagi?! With all due respect, Inoue-san, but you must have that wrong.”

“I don’t, Yoshida-kun,” The younger woman says, a little too loudly for comfort, a little too eagerly for Maya’s taste. “I have it on good authority that it happened.”

“Unbelievable! I never expect anyone to get near Akagi— she always seems so out of reach.

Grunting as she ran a hand through her hair, brown locks falling neatly into place, Maya proceeds with one strong step behind the other, clearing her throat as she slams the door open and makes a subtle gesture to her uniform, to remind the other members of just exactly how close the young technician was to the renowned doctor. “Carry on.” 

The two lower tier employees scuttle in their shoes, as fast as their skittishness would let them. 

Maya’s chest blooms in pride as she starts walking towards the exit as well, the warm summer breeze chilling her in the most soothing manner. She notices a post facing away towards the security kiosk that held a small television showing the six o’clock news. Leaning against said post, she reaches for the small cigarette case she has in her back pocket, taking one between neatly kept nails and lighting it up, taking a short but smoothing drag. Some pictures of the Eva-Units makes it onto the local news stations, reporters commenting on other reporter’s arguments— whether in favor or against the mechanical machines has never really interested the young technician— none of them understood how difficult it is to wield them, to hold in their hands not only the coordinates of the attack but careful planning and examination of how to control them— to how to save humanity.

Maybe Maya’s optimistic sense of life was weighing down on her, maybe she had lost some sort of softness.

“Do you mind lighting mine up?” She hears a familiar cadence behind her but does not bother to turn around. “I left my lighter back at the office.”

Ritsuko Akagi has always been a woman who does not ask for things— they are usually handed to her, most often then not after a swift command or gentle order. If she was politely asking for Maya as trivial as lighting a cigarette, then it must have been a particularly bad day. She turns around and offers the small kindle formed at the tip of the match. By the small fire as Ritsuko approaches her own cigarette, Maya notices the lines underneath her green eyes, the weight of the day slowly falling on her shoulders. It is not guilt, there’s no particular warmth to it either— just an exhaustion that coats her features. 

Shaking the match off, Maya can’t resist the way her brows furrow, how her lips form into a thin line. “Why did you let her get away with that?” Major Katsuragi’s voice still rings in her head like a menace, one harsh word violently tearing itself into the next. The sound on her hand on Ritsuko’s face echoed in the vast office, Hyuga and her too uncomfortable in the power shift, into Major Katsuragi’s act of defiance. “ _Fix it, damn it_!” She had demanded, voice tearing at the seams in a rage that made her voice tremble. “ _You built these things, didn’t you? Whatever it takes, make it right_!” Her fist curls before jamming it into her pocket. “In front of everybody.”

With the same dejected eyes, Ritsuko takes a drag and softly blows it into the air, a swirl of clouds and acid steaming on her, being gently swiped away by the summer air. “Major Katsuragi is my superior in the military sense,” She offers a transparent lie— and somehow it angers Maya that she thought she would fall for it, blindly accepting it as fact when she knows it’s just Ritsuko’s self motivating excuses. “What was I supposed to do?”

“Bullshit.” Maya hisses before she can think about it twice, Ritsuko’s gaze catches her for a moment, but they do not widen— she doesn’t seem to have the energy for it. 

Ritsuko has a concussion, blonde hair around a bandaged head and Major Katsuragi had dared to raise a hand against her in an improper and unprofessional manner, it was enough to make Maya’s blood boil. However, it had enraged her that Ritsuko had let Misato undermine her in such a manner— _so demeaning_! “You don’t know her like I do, Maya.”

There it was, the encapsulation of everything and anything that Maya would have _detested_ to hear from her. She does not pretend to understand Ritsuko’s strange and somewhat destructive nature of her relationship to Katsuragi-san, but she had always held her concerns of it affecting their professional life— to bled and spread its ugly roots and seeds throughout NERV HQ. “You’re too lenient with her,” Maya comments, crossing her arms and resigning the rage to the exhaustion that coats her as well, a shade similar to Ritsuko’s, albeit less heavy. “We will get the pilot back,” She continues, some vain, altruistic hope clinging to her very words, trying to drown out the harsher emotions. “We live in the scientific era.”

The doctor does not offer a statement, she simply leans against the post, not next to her, but not leaning against her. Her hand brushes by hers, however, Maya wonders if it was carefully manufactured or if it was an accident.” “Let me give you a ride home,” Ritsuko says under her breath as she drags the cigarette away from her lips, the signature red lipstick stain gone. “My car isn’t far.”

There’s a slow hitch in Maya’s breath— it’s short and softly high-pitched, any passerby might have mistaken it for a small gasp. “No,” She answers, and it pains her to deny it— but she knows they by now, a script burned into the back of her eyelids. _Nights in that car lead to dangerous paths_. “I promised Aoba and Hyuga I would meet them for drinks.”

There’s a subtle flicker in her eyes, if she hadn’t been looking at her, she might have missed it. “Be careful.” She answers and Ritsuko cannot look at her at the moment, but Maya could feel the way her pinkie had taken hers. The harsh possessiveness that overtakes her green eyes satisfies a dark, twisted side of Maya that she had often tried to keep at bay— but not tonight. It makes her all the more satisfied to know that she is lying through her teeth, as many times as Ritsuko has done to her, always thinking she can’t see through the veneer. 

“Good night, Doctor Akagi.” She says as she lifts from the post, looking her way with not a smile— but it's something approaching it. “I hope you get home safe.”

She doesn’t turn around when she hears Ritsuko chuckle under her breath. “Goodnight, Maya.”


End file.
